


We're The Same

by Spirits_Among_Stars



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: during x-men first class, the 1960s bitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 13:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9237971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spirits_Among_Stars/pseuds/Spirits_Among_Stars
Summary: One mutant remained and Erik and Charles travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to find her. The two wanted this recruitment to be quick and easy because they needed to get back to the CIA as soon as possible, Shaw wasn't going to stop just because Erik and Charles were out gathering mutants to fight him.





	

A sunny afternoon stretched out in front of Erik and Charles as they drove through a suburb in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their latest and last recruit lived somewhere in the neighbourhood and Charles directed Erik on where to go and how to get there. They had almost gotten lost a few times due to missed turns and misheard directions but they always righted themselves and were quickly back on the right path.  
  
Despite it being a sunny day, there were grey clouds in the sky and a light breeze rustling through the trees and that didn't stop the numerous children playing out on bikes and with toys on the grass. Parents watched their children and chatted with their neighbours and occasionally joined in with the fun while others attended to their yards, raking up the leaves and taking out the trash. The smell of autumn drifted in through the open windows of the car.  
  
The vehicle purred through the streets while Charles pinpointed the house they needed. Erik and Charles had been driving for almost five hours and their eagerness had not dwindled for finding the mutant. Charles was enjoying finding mutants with unique abilities he's never heard or seen before. They hoped this one wouldn't take much convincing about their plan for stopping the nuclear war but they couldn't predict how she would react. They wanted her to say yes, they need all the help they could get. The two wanted this recruitment to be quick and easy because they needed to get back to the CIA as soon as possible, Shaw wasn't going to stop just because Erik and Charles were out gathering mutants to fight him.  
  
Erik's eyes flashed to each house as they drove passed. He noticed several people eyeing them suspiciously as they traveled down the street and it made him ever so slightly uneasy. "Where's this woman, Charles?" he asked, looking at the many people. "I don't want to keep driving around aimlessly."  
  
Charles had his fingers on his temple and his eyes scanned the houses. This one was harder to locate than the others, it was easier using Cerebro but at least he knew whereabouts she was; perhaps she had some sort of psychic shield or her mind was just strong. His eyes were drawn to the house with a very orange door towards the end of the street. "There," he exclaimed, pointing to the house with a neat little water fountain outside, "that house. There." Erik nodded and continued down the road.  
  
They reached the house and parked by the curb. The little fountain spurted water into a pond of fish and different kinds of colourful flowers lined the stone path to the front door. They left their vehicle on the pavement and headed up to the house; a single story, blue and white building. The grass was green even for the time of year and a bike was parked in the car-less driveway. They approached the door and Erik pressed his right index finger on the door bell. It rang for a few seconds before a woman called, "I'll be right with you!"  
  
Charles and Erik looked at each other. "We're running out of time, Charles. We need to make this quick," Erik said, hushed; you could never know who was listening.  
  
"I know but this will take as long as it takes," Charles replied. "She needs to understand why we need her."  
  
The front door slowly opened and a woman's head peered through the gap. Her wary eyes watched them from behind a pair of dark sunglasses and a moment later, she pulled the door open further. "May I help you, gentlemen?" she asked, eyes flicking back and forth between them.  
  
Charles couldn't blame her for being cautious of two men suddenly appearing on her doorstep. "Actually, yes, you can," he said, smiling inwardly at the fellow Briton before him. _You don't need to be worried. We're like you. We're the same,_ he covered up his telepathy by scratching his temple. The woman relaxed a little bit more and Charles took it as the cue to introduce himself and Erik. "I'm Charles Xavier," he then gestured to Erik.  
  
"Erik Lensherr," he greeted.  
  
"Philippa Ashworth," she replied, "but call me Pippa. Please, come inside, we don't need to have this conversation on my doorstep." Charles nodded his head thankfully and he and Erik stepped inside with her closing the door behind them.  
  
Pippa's home was old, refurbished recently in the past decade or so; they now stood in the living room/kitchen/diner, there was a hallway to their left leading to her bedroom, the bathroom, and another bedroom. The decor, though, what not what they were expecting. Everything seemed to be a mishmash of objects and furniture from the previous decades; the oldest pieces, Charlie's noted, were not the decor but the gold, oval locket around Pippa's neck and the silver pocket watch hanging from her belt. The newest were the childrens' toys dotted about the floor; did she have children? It didn't look like it nor sound like it. His eyes traveled to her curious face. She wasn't wearing her sunglasses.  
  
He wasn't expecting that. "Your eyes," he couldn't stop himself from speaking, "I've-I've never seen anything like it. Are they fake?"  
  
Happy, vivid violet eyes shone as she smiled, shaking her head slightly, "No, they are not."  
  
Erik looked at Charles like he had lost his mind, "Charles, what do you-" Erik looked at her and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh, _whoa_!"   
  
" _Violet_. They're violet," Charles breathed, thoroughly shocked. "How did you do that?"  
  
Pippa chuckled, "To this day, I do not know. They changed colour in my teen years after an... incident. I believe that the situation was a catalyst but I'm not entirely sure. They come in handy on All Hallows' Eve."  
  
"They are remarkable," Charles said, still taken aback. Even Erik couldn't believe his own eyes.  
  
"Thank you," she said with a smile, "and it's clearly not albinism nor is it Alexandria Genesis. It's a mutation." Charles chuckled to himself at that. They were going to get along well. "May I get you a drink?" They shook their heads and she gestured for them to sit down on the softer chairs while she sat on an old button back armchair. "Are you both mutants?" They nodded. "So if Mr. Xavier is a telepath, and not the first I've met, what can you do, Mr. Lensherr?"  
  
He looked between her and Charles, and Charles nodded slightly. "I can generate and manipulate all forms of magnesium."  
  
"That's the first time I've heard of that," she said impressed. Pippa then moved to the edge of her chair, hands clasped together, "Now then, gentlemen, what can I do for you? Do you have a child with abilities you want me to take a look at?"  
  
"What?" Charles asked confused. "Oh, no! Nothing like that!" Wait a second, did she look after mutant children? "Why'd you ask?"  
  
Pippa looked apologetic at assuming their intentions for being here before saying, "I run a daycare for children with and without mutant abilities. If a child needs looking after while their parent or parents are at work, they come to me. I did think it strange of you being here because I've ever seen you around before."  
  
Erik looked at Charles and huffed quietly, sounding impatient. The man had an admiring expression on his face as she talked and only a subtle nudge to his right thigh did he finally tell her why they were really here. "We need your help to prevent a war," Charles told her, honestly.  
  
The cheery Pippa was replaced by a frustrated one, she sighed and ran a hand through her long bouffant brown hair, "Dash it all... Another one?"  
  
"I'm afraid so."  
  
Rubbing her forehead, she mumbled something under her breath and the two men looked at each other, both unsure as to what she said. She looked up. "I've been through enough wars to know I have got to do whatever I can to stop them, and let me guess, a group of people or an individual-"  
  
"Sebastian Shaw," Erik cut in. "He's the man. He runs a group of mutants called the Hellfire Club."  
  
"Well then, I bet this Shaw and his club thinks it a great idea to cause trouble between two countries, say America and the U.S.S.R, and plunge the world into chaos, ridding the Earth of the weaker species: Humans."  
  
Charles and Erik nodded. "You've got that right," the former said impressed.  
  
"Of course I did. It's either that, or an assassination that causes a war."  
  
There was something about her both men couldn't put their fingers on. She seemed wise beyond her years, spoke rather oddly, and seemed to be just tired, but not from the lack of sleep, nothing like that, something else... but what? And the way she said she's been through enough wars... if she was actually her age, roughly 30, then the only war she's been through was the Second World War.  
  
Pippa noticed their confusion and she laughed. "Just to settle any qualms you have about my age, I was born 8th of May 1823." They stared at her like she had suddenly grown two heads and they had to do a double take; how casually she told them didn't help matters either. Their reaction made her laugh harder, "I'm 139 years old."  
  
"You're _what_?" Charles asked in surprise.  
  
She cleared her throat and repeated slowly, "One hundred and thirty nine years old." Charles blew out his cheeks and Erik took in a deep breath.  
  
"Well," the telepath said, "you look good for your age."  
  
Pippa smiled amused, "Thank you."  
  
As much as he enjoyed learning that the mutant in front of him was over 100 years old, Erik was getting rather annoyed with the lack of answer regarding their mutant problem. He folded his arms, "Are you going to help us or not?"  
  
She simply nodded her head, "Yes. It's like I said, I take up every opportunity to stop a war."  
  
"Excellent!" said Charles. He got to his feet with the two others following suit and he looked at Pippa with a smile, "Thank you."  
  
"It's not a problem..." she matched Charles' smile with her own, "but wouldn't you like to know what I can do?"  
  
"I would love to."  
  
Her smiled widened and she raised her hand. Water shot out of the tap in the kitchen and as she wriggled her fingers, it swirled around their heads before forming a ball between them. "As well as being over 100 years old, I can manipulate and generate water. I can manipulate but not generator vapour, and I'm a very quick healer too. I do have more secrets but where's the fun in telling you everything now?" she let out a little chuckle and the water evaporated into the air with a wave of her hand.  
  
Charles looked impressed. "We should really get going," Erik said urgently.  
  
"Oh, yes, of course," Pippa nodded. "Would I need to bring anything?"  
  
"Spare clothes; anything that can help you help us," Charles told her.  
  
"Head to your car, I shall be out shortly," she said. They nodded their heads and exited her house, Erik closing the door behind them.  
  
"She's over _100_ years old!" Charles said excitedly as they walked back to their car. "I've never come across anything like that before. The things she could tell us about how she grew up and what things were like; this is amazing!"  
  
"I agree, but try not to get too excited."  
  
"Excuse me," they looked towards their car and in front of it stood a broad shouldered man in a suit and Erik recognised him as one of the ones who watched them suspiciously as they drove by. "What do you want with Pippa?" Uh oh, this was probably her husband.  
  
"We wanted to ask you wife-" the man let out a loud belly laugh and stepped away from their vehicle. Erik and Charles looked at each other confused.  
  
"She's not my wife. Mine lives across the street," he pointed his thumb to the house behind him, "she, _we_ , wanted to know what you were doing." Did they know about Pippa being a mutant? Maybe, maybe not. "She's a part of this community and we know everything about everyone." Maybe not then. "What do you want with her?"  
  
"Odiche! It's alright!" Pippa called from behind them. She sped down the path towards them and stopped on Charles's left side and Odiche's right.  
  
Odiche folded his arms, "Is it?"  
  
"Yes, yes, it is," she patted him on the arm.  "They need me to help stop a war."  
  
"After everything that's happened, you're leaving?"  
  
"We've talked about this. I've got to. I've been here too long and people will start asking questions."  
  
"No one has been and Robert-"  
  
"I know what he said and my answer will not change. At least this way I don't need to keep looking for a house," she shrugged nonchalantly. "Listen, I will return to collect the rest of my belongings and say a proper goodbye once this has all calmed down, okay?"  
  
Odiche nodded his head and took a deep breath. "Alight. I'll let everyone know for you."  
  
"Thank you, Odiche."  
  
The man then looked pointedly at Charles and Erik, "You'll like working with her. She's boss."  
  
"We hope we do too," the telepath said. Odiche inclined his head at the three of them and returned to his home across the street.  
  
"Don't mind him," Pippa dismissed, watching Odiche leave. "He's got this reasons to be a little suspicious of people." She had a simple bag over her shoulder, and her locket and pocket watch in their respective places. "Are we ready?"  
  
"Absolutely," they both said. Erik unlocked the car and the three of them bundled into the car with Erik driving, Charles in the passenger seat, and Pippa sitting in the back driver's seat.  
  
As they pulled away from the curb, Pippa waved to Odiche's wife who was watching them through the living room window, and Erik asked, "Who's Robert?"  
  
"Robert? He's one of the neighbours. He offered me a job so I didn't have to leave."  
  
"And why are you leaving?" Charles questioned.  
  
"People notice I don't age and start asking questions; they don't like the answers I give them either, so it's just easier to pack up and move on before they do start asking."  
  
"They know about your abilities?"  
  
"Yes. About four years after I moved here, there was a house fire a few doors down and I wasn't going to sit around and do nothing. I saved a mother and her newborn that night and since then, I've had no issues with anybody," she said.   
  
"And they're not bothered by you in the slightest?" Charles looked at her over his shoulder.  
  
"If they are, then I am unaware." Pippa relaxed back in her seat, "We've got a long journey ahead and one doesn't have to be a mind reader to know you're itching to ask questions, so ask away."  
  
They spent the four drive back to the Richmond listening to Pippa answer their questions about her past; from growing up in Victorian London, to her experiences with both world wars, and she hapily told them about her _very_ large, extended family.


End file.
